Influence of Women on Crop Choice Decision Making among Farm Households in Northern Ghana

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of women's involvement in intra-household decision making on crop choice decisions, relative to indigenous food crops combinations by farm households. The study draws on choice theory and estimates a multinomial logit regression model using a survey data of 271 farm households in three districts in Northern Ghana. The paper finds that women's involvement in crop production decisions at the household level promotes the production of more diverse indigenous food crop mix (pulses, vegetables and oilseeds with cereals). Other factors such as larger land holdings; awareness of the nutritional significance of indigenous food crops in household diets; household size; presence of children; educational status and age of the household head; engaging in nonfarm activities; and distance away from the nearest market affect households' crop choice decisions relative to indigenous food crop combinations. The paper concludes that women's involvement in intra-household decisions promotes production of a more diverse indigenous food crop mix in northern Ghana and recommends that women's participation in intra-household decision making should be supported and promoted, since that could help Ghana accelerate its attainment of food and nutrition security (SDG2).